The Possibilities and Impossibilities that We Would Love to See in Joker's Return

For the past few months, fanboys have all been asking the same question, "Who will be the next villain in Scott Snyder's Batman?". To be honest, I was praying for Clayface. Yes, I am aware that DC Comics has done little with him as a character. Lets be realistic, Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo would have made him into a respectable Batman villain. Recently, it became public that Tony Daniel was leaving Detective Comics. Right away, the two questions that hit me were: 1. Was DC Comics going to forget about the Dollmaker? 2. Why was the Joker thrilled to have his face cut off? Well, our second question has been answered. Starting with Batman #13 (Story arc is called Death of a Family), Snyder and Capullo are bringing back the Joker and they promise that Gotham city will be bleeding red. Scott Snyder has stated that the readers will finally learn why the Dollmaker cut off the Joker's face. According to Newsarama and Comic Book Resources, this story will be crossing over into Nightwing, Batman and Robin, Batgirl and Red Hood and the Outlaws.

Like every fanboy, I dream of the awesome possibilities that will happen during and after this storyline. Some dreams might be possible, others may be very much impossible. Here is a list of my dreams.

1.Barbara Gordon and Jason Todd confront the Joker: Joker paralyzed Barbara Gordon (formerly known and once again known as Batgirl) and killed Jason Todd (formerly known as Robin and now known as the Red Hood). When Joker shot Barbara, he was clueless that she was Batgirl. Joker is a psycho, so he knows which of his victims survive, die and suffer. Don't be surprised if he confronts her and attempts to complete his original mission. I can't wait for Gail Simone to write Barbara reliving her biggest nightmare.

The purpose of Scott Lobdell's Red Hood and the Outlaws was to show Jason Todd's journey of redemption, in which he was letting go of his past and embracing his future. Luckily, Scott Lodbell participated in Snyder's first story arc "Court of Owls". Even though some of us were disappointed by the complete lack of Red Hood and Batman's bonding scenario, we were thrilled to see Red Hood vs Batgirl. During their first confrontation, no one even dared to mention the Joker. In Joker's return, I expect to see Red Hood and Batgirl talk about their fears and protect each other from breaking down. I would love to see Red Hood have the opportunity to kill the Joker, and Batgirl is the one to talk him down from it.

2. Who Will Die? The story arc is titled "Death of a Family". Who exactly is Joker going after? Here are a few choices: The Gordons, Bruce Wayne, Alfred and his wards or the Bat-family (For new readers, Joker hasn't made that connection). I don't expect Damian to be killed because he is the main focus in Grant Morrison's Batman Incorporated. Nightwing, Batgirl and Red Hood have their own titles but two people do not. Alfred has been around a long time but maybe its time he passed away. Fanboys would cry for about this for months but it is Scott Snyder, so it will be easy to forgive him. Our second guess is Tim Drake. At first, I would be devastated because as I went through elementary, middle school, college and now grad school, I saw the development of Tim Drake as a character. If he dies, it better be emotional, awesome and heart breaking.

3. The Return of the Dollmaker: 9 months ago, Tony Daniel, writer of Detective Comics, introduced us to the Dollmaker. He was a new villain and he was fun to read and the Joker let him cut off his face. Since then, there has been no word from the Dollmaker. With the Joker returning, we need to see the Dollmaker. But, he better not be killed off. Maybe, Snyder tells us the origin of the Dollmake?. Maybe, the Joker created the Dollmaker? If that is possible, here is my guess: the Dollmaker was a suregon and the Joker kidnapped him and his family. The Joker didn't want to kill the Dollmaker, instead he wanted the Dollmaker to torture and kill his family. In the end, Dollmaker cracks and creates a new personality. This personality believes the Joker is his god and creator.

4. Do we need a new Joker Origin? Does anyone actually know Joker's true origin? I've read that he was married, was having a kid and worked for the mob. He was in a desperate need of money, put on a red hood as a disguise, attempted to rob a factory and fell into a container of ooze, maybe acid. I am pretty sure that is everything that happened to the Joker prior to becoming a psycho. We watched him go from petty criminal (The Killing Joke) to absolute psycho (in pretty much everything), but we haven't seen his in-between phase. Never before have we been introduced to Joker's mindset in the true creation of the character (after petty criminal, before murderous psychopath). If Snyder was to capture the first days of the Joker, I hope he tells the story of the Joker's first few killings and the mindset he was in. Maybe Joker didn't truly become a psycho until his first battle with Batman.

5. Who else wants to see Bruce end up in Arkham? This needs to happen. I want to see Bruce to lose his shit, end up in a straight jacket and hit his head against a paddled wall. Wouldn't it be spectacular with Batman ending up in Arkham because he couldn't deal with allowing the Joker to survive after he killed Alfred or Tim Drake. A great twist to this story would involve Batman getting locked away (much as Joker was) and being just as crazy as Joker (although probably not quite as murderous). This would be a complete 180 for the character (the same level as Bane breaking Bat's back) that would show more of the Bruce Wayne side of the character while he dealt with the madness and attempted to deal with/escape from the asylum that he helped populate (and who wouldn't want to see Bruce in contact with some of the inmates he was responsible for incarcerating?).